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Randall Smith
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 06:05 pm: | 
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This is an unsolicited testimonial for Equal, which I purchased from Expedition Exchange after seeing a related post on this board.
I liked the idea because it would liberate me from having to go to the tire store twice a year for balancing/rotation. Also I have had a little trouble with balancing because my BFG MTs require a lot of lead weights.
So I bought 10 packs of Equal to get started. One pack was busted in shipping, but it gave me a chance to examine the material. It's hard to picture 3 ounces of plastic powder balancing a 75 pound wheel. So either wheels run smoothly with no weights on it, or Equal works as advertised.
The only difficult thing to consider with Equal is convincing the tire guy that you are serious, and want them to do this. Other than that the only other problem seems to be that one or two of my tires don't airdown fast like they used to. I may have to have the special valve stems reinstalled.
Since I have tried the Equal, the least of my worries has been tire balancing. And eventually I will have this in all my wheels. Some time I plan to remove the lead weights off of another set of tires just to see how badly out of balance they feel(with no weights or Equal), then install the Equal. This would be the real test of how well the stuff works.
But for now I can say that my wheels feel perfecty balanced for the last two months.
Randall |
John Lee
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 08:43 pm: |
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Randall,
I wish you had let me know one of the bags broke. We would have sent you another one. The Equal Drop-In Bags are very frail and sometimes break in freight, even though we pack the bags with foam peanuts and try to prevent their sloshing around inside the shipping boxes. We just consider it a cost of selling Equal and don't mind sending out replacement bags whenever a customer suffers a broken bag.
The increase in airdown time with Equal is normal. The filtered valve cores feature a screen mesh that looks like this: http://www.expeditionexchange.com/equal/DSC02257.jpg
The screen mesh will prevent the Equal granules from contaminating the seal on the valve core, but the mesh will also become blocked with Equal granules and air will just trickle out of the valve. This partial blockage will also prevent the Staun Tire Deflators from working correctly. This is a pain because after having used the Stauns for a few months, I now simply refuse to kneel at each tire to air it down.
To return airdown time to normal and to permit use of the Stauns, Ho and I both use the Power Tank to flush out the valve stems. Just a millisecond of air on each valve before you air down will clear out the valves and air will once again pour out of the with alacrity. It's very easy to do and returns your airdown time/procedure to your pre-Equal days.
I'm glad you're happy with the Equal. |
Randall Smith
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 10:34 pm: |
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John
Just thought I would let others know that the stuff aparently works. I will be ordering more some day.
Thanks for the tip on airing down. I have a Power Tank as well, and now that you mention it, a quick blast should clear the valve stem...thanks.
Randall |
Jroc (Jroc)
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 11:08 pm: |
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I second that opinion! Equal Rocks, and so does EE for informing all of us about it! If you don't have equal yet, you will one day! And John and Ho have the customer service thing down! Thanx guys and Merry Christmas... |
Erik Olson (Jon)
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 11:18 pm: |
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No dig intended on EE - both John and Ho are tops in my opinion. I've received lots of good advice and great product at more than fair prices.
That said, I'm still getting some wobble on my 235/85r/16 Dunlop R/Ts around curves at speeds between 45 and 60 mph. Additionally, on cement road surface in particular, I get what should best be described as "balance shimmy" at 60 - 70 mph.
I installed the Equal as prescribed, drop in when mounting method, right down to the little yellow stem condoms to let service guys know that Equal is inside.
I've been told that this shimmy will diminish and eventually go away, and that it might be attributed to the tires having been mounted with classic lead weights for the first 4000 miles of their life.
Has anyone else experienced this issue, and does the wobble ever go away? I desperately want the Equal to be my choice for future installs, but I'm curious as to just how good it really is and how much of this is just a little hype.
e |
Jroc (Jroc)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 12:04 am: |
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Erik,
I really wish I had some insight to your problem, but I don't. All I can say is I have the same setup, 235/85r/16 Dunlop R/T's with equal, on my '95 Disco without the problem you're experiencing. This leads me to believe that the equal May not be the culprit here. Not sure what else would give you these symptoms though. I know it's gonna be a hard sale on the equal not causing the problem but I'd check out other possible causes. Good Luck and Happy Holidays |
Curtis N (Curtis)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 12:28 am: |
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Erik,
I run the 265/75 R/T's and have the same wobble occurring in one tire. I suspect that the tire is out of balance, but have not dealt with it yet. Discount tire has told me they will replace it. Once I isolate which tire it is I guess I will take it over to them. Might as well wear out the tread I have for now though because it is not too bad. They suspect an out of round condition or a bad mold. Either one would be hard for Equal to correct.
Curtis |
Andrew Clarke (Aclarke)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 02:16 am: |
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AHA!! I've been meaning to post about this VERY THING but never got around to it.
I too purchased equal from EE a couple months ago and had it installed in my new Dunlop Radial Rover R/T 235/85 tires about a month ago. I then drove down from Vancouver to San Diego and around here since then.
I notice quite a bit of vibration around 70mph. Seems like the tires are out of balance although I guess it could be the driveshaft or something. I had similar vibrations with my old tires but just assumed it was the tires. Maybe I'll drive by EE some time and have one of you guys drive my vehicle around the block to tell me if the Equal is working as it should.
Also, so I'm supposed to put the yellow things on the outside of my valve stems? The people in the Big O didn't know what to do with those and so they didn't do anything with them. I keep forgetting to ask!
Plus, John, that is a VERY good tip about the airing down. I've been getting very frustrated with the extremely slow airdown rate. It's good to know there's a solution!
Lastly for now, I see a bunch of you are running the Rover R/T 235/85s like me. What pressure do you run them at? They're about 1000x better than my old tires were off-road, but on-road they've negatively affected the handling more than I expected. I've been running 45-50psi in them so far. |
Marc Ingham (Marcingham)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 08:03 am: |
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I had a lot of shimmy in my Bridgestone MT 235/85s and figured I would give Equal a try. My tires were also wearing in a very odd sawtooth pattern. I noticed some improvement right away, but it took awhile to get them smoothed out. After approx. 3k it looks like the Equal has actually got them back to even and my shimmy is gone at all but the lowest speeds (and that is probably just MT lug flapping). |
Mike J. (Mudd)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 08:33 am: |
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Can you use more Equal? I have the same shimmy and It's killing me. I feel real dangerous around turns over 50 mph. most of the time. It's kind of intermitant but always there a little bit. If I get near the brakes is gets worse. I was doing better before the Equal, I had my allignment redone, tried to get the shop to re-balance my tires but they can't...very expensive for all this crap and it's worse than when I started. What now? |
Randall Smith
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 09:29 am: |
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The most obvious way to determine if a wheel is out of balance is to rotate the tires. Also there is usually some odd tread wear patterns are created if unbalanced wheel is used over a long period of time. The wheel could be bent also.
Worn out susp bushings can allow vibes under some conditions. The preload on the bearings in the swivel housings needs to be checked if you get bad case of the shakes after hitting a bump on the road.
Not sure, but a vibe while you are turning could be a loose component in the steering system.
Equal doesn't claim to fix shimmy's caused by other parts of the car.
Randall |
John Lee
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 11:07 am: |
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Erik,
Dunlop RT's? Equal is awesome, but it has limits. 
Firestone. Dunlop. Futura. Cooper. Pro Comp. All of these tires will give substandard results. |
gp (Garrett)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 11:13 am: |
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what? are you being silly again. Pro Comps Ok, but Cooper, Futura & Dunlop. no way.
coopers=big love. |
Erik Olson (Jon)
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 11:30 am: |
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John,
With all due respect, don't ding the R/Ts. I've run Goodyear M/T, Yokohama M/T, Remington Wide Brute A/T, Michelin XTerrains and now the Dunlops and never had a problem like this. Even those soft, 30,000 mile P.O.S. Yokos never gave me the wobble.
First, re-read my post, then read the ones that follow. Certainly, you can't believe that I'm making this s*** up?
I take good care of my tires and they show no signs of uneven wear. I'll give it a couple more k before I give up. Again, not challenging John or Ho - just want to know if anyone else has experienced the phenomonon.
e |
Axel Haakonsen (Axel)
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 07:59 am: |
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Equal is working just fine in my Futuras. I do have some vibration between 65 and 75, but that is because the rear pinion angle is slightly off, it has nothing to do with the tires in my case. |
Norm
| | Posted on Thursday, December 19, 2002 - 11:38 pm: |
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Personally, I prefer semi-organic products like "Sugar in the Raw." However, I didn't notice any difference in the ride after putting several packets in my tires.
Does "Sweet 'n Low" work as well as Equal???
Thanks,
Norm |
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